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November 14, 2008
A Hebrew troubadour
Susan Cogan performs songs from new album.
GABRIELLA KLEIN
Entering the Saltspring log home of Susan Cogan is like walking into The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and finding oneself in Narnia. Paintings, carved instruments and Asian rugs surround the intricately hand-painted round table and a large glass bird floats above your head, suspended from a beam. The illusion is enhanced by Cogan's persona, with her long silver hair, flowing dresses and sparkling hazel eyes, not to mention the obvious joy she gets from all the chachkas that crowd every nook and cranny in sight.
Singing and writing since her teenage years, Cogan was mainly self taught on guitar and keyboard. Her first paid gig in Toronto, where she grew up, was singing "Jerusalem of Gold" between sets for her uncle's band. When her family moved to Israel in 1966, she wasted no time making a name for herself in her new country. "We would travel around performing for soldiers at army bases just before and after the Six Day War. I was 15," recalled Cogan.
While studying at Bezalel Art College in Jerusalem, Cogan's life took an unexpected turn. "In my second year of art college, I felt my life was passing me by and I answered an ad in the Jerusalem Post looking for singers in a night club called the Cave, in Yaffo. That is where I met Fran Avni and we became a duo, Susan and Fran. Our career took off like a rocket. The two-CD set of our original Susan and Fran recording is still available by Hed-Arzi. Our version of 'The Bird' by Natan Zach and Micha Segal turned into one of Israel's best-known songs. They still play it weekly on Shabbat and at affairs of state. It is a song that somehow captures the Israeli soul."
Susan and Fran were folk stars in Israel during the 1970s and they still reunite for the occasional tour while pursuing their solo careers. Avni lives in Berkley and Montreal and is a children's performer. Her CD Latkes and Hammentaschen is popular in many North American Jewish communities.
Cogan and her husband, Uri, a photojournalist and computer artist, settled on Saltspring Island in 1980. Their daughter, Ora, followed her mother's example and is currently touring Europe with her own repertoire of self-penned songs.
"We emigrated to Canada with a dream to settle by the ocean and knew about the island through Valdi, who we met on the festival circuit. We arrived on Saltspring for a Thanksgiving potluck at the Beaver Point Community Hall and heard Hebrew being spoken. We took this as a good sign."
In the mid-1980s, to facilitate her recording career, Susan created Nomad Music with engineer Paul Brousseau and produced many CDs, including Space Age Primitives.
"While touring across Canada in 2000 promoting Gypsy Hill, I was listening a lot to Shoshana Damari, which inspired my first solo Hebrew compilation, Mayim (Water). These are mostly traditional songs but I also wrote a couple of originals," said Cogan.
"I am working on a new project with Daphna Arod, a well-known Israeli painter and lyricist. I wrote the English lyrics and she wrote the Hebrew. This is a collaboration that has evolved over my many trips to Israel visiting my family, including my 92-year-old mother, and while promoting the latest Susan and Fran project, entitled Merciful Moon," said Cogan, picking up her guitar and strumming a tune.
"My favorite song on the upcoming CD is 'If the Wind Blows,'" she said. "Here is some of the English translation: Kick up our heels so we don't catch / Our feelings on each injury / Keep our ears tuned to the secrets / Of our hearts beating endlessly / If the wind blow lively upon you / If the spirit rests lightly on me."
Cogan's voice threaded itself among the shadows that deepened in the afternoon. The sound of her voice and the words were haunting and moving.
Cogan will be performing at Bean Brothers Café Kerrisdale, 2179 West 41st Ave., on Nov. 23 at 6 p.m. To hear samples from her new album, visit www.susancogan.com.
Gabriella Klein is a Vancouver actor, writer and entertainment producer. Originally from Budapest, her wanderlust took her to Cuba recently, where she made her debut short documentary 50 Years and Swinging Strong. She will participate in the International Storytelling Conference of Havana in 2009.
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